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Curriculum Design and Bar Passage: New York Law School\u27s Experience
No full textMany NYLS graduates taking the NY bar exam passed below the state rate. This article describes how improvements in bar passage rates were achieved through the implementation of a comprehensive curriculum program. The article further considers how the law school improved test scores of low-performing students by addressing academic rigor and capacity to practice law
Marooned: An Empirical Investigation of Law School Graduates Who Fail the Bar Exam
No full textThis article attempts to answer a question that legal academia has been reluctant to even ask: What happens to law school graduates who fail the bar exam? What do they do and how do their lives differ from the lives of their lawyer-classmates? Would their careers have fared any better if they had not gone to law school?
There are probably on the order of 150,000 law school graduates in the United States who have taken but never passed a bar exam; this amounts to one in ten J.D.s and the risk falls disparately on black, Hispanic, and Asian law school graduates. The ranks only will increase if the upward trend in law school enrollment and the downward trend in bar passage continue, as they have over the last decade. Despite the vast and growing literature on lawyers, research on those who fail the bar is virtually non-existent. We know astonishingly little about the law school graduates who experience the consequences of the licensing barrier, whatever they may be
Experiencing Discrimination: Race and Retention in America\u27s Largest Law Firms
No full textAlthough the number of racial and ethnic minority lawyers in the legal profession has greatly increased, concern remains about their low percentage among partners in elite law firms. Using a nationally representative sample of young American lawyers, we compare a human capital–based theory, which emphasizes measures of merit, and an institutional discrimination–based theory, which focuses on differences in partner contact and mentoring. The results indicate that institutional discrimination theory is the better way of understanding racial and ethnic differences in lawyer retention. Future affirmative action programs need to focus not just on access but also the processes within large firms if minority presence is to be increased
Making Law Students Client-Ready: A New Model in Legal Education
No full textIn the 1870’s, Christopher Columbus Langdell, then Dean of Harvard Law School, introduced the teaching method of studying cases combined with Socratic questioning. It is still the primary method of teaching law in the United States. Although worthy as part of an integrative program of instruction, the Langdellian method, as the primary form of instruction, fails to make law students client-ready. While it may meet \u27the needs of future law clerks and eventual judges, as well as aspiring legal scientists,\u27 it leaves \u27newly admitted lawyers . . . ill-prepared to represent common people who have common legal problems.\u27 This has negative ramifications not only for lawyers, but for \u27everybody who may be affected by the work of lawyers.\u27
Fortunately, numerous comprehensive, authoritative reports call for integrating the Langdellian method with training in professional skills and values. Efforts at reform are being made in various law schools around the country. But change has been slow, and delay means serious negative consequences for law students and the clients they will eventually serve. The Langdellian method not only undertrains students generally, it disproportionately alienates groups traditionally underrepresented in law schools, including women and minorities. Law schools have a duty to their students and to society to provide a legal education that adequately trains law students to represent clients. They have a duty to make legal education a means to greater equality, and not an inhibition. This paper attempts to provide a possible starting point for schools that have not yet begun the move toward integrative education, and an opportunity for further discussion among those schools already in transition. (pp. 102-103
Balancing Law Student Privacy Interests and Progressive Pedagogy: Dispelling the Myth that FERPA Prohibits Cutting-Edge Academic Support Methodologies
No full textControversy exists over whether the Family Education Records Privacy Act prohibits certain progressive law school academic support methodologies. This Article analyzes these claims, using the text of the statute, the related regulations, case law from the Supreme Court of the United States and other federal courts, and statements from the Department of Education. The thesis of this Article is that most academic support methods are perfectly lawful and that FERPA and progressive pedagogy can peaceably coexist
Struggles & Support: Diversity in U.S. Law Schools
No full textThis article is a reflection on law students and their experiences as students from different racial backgrounds. This study relies on national survey and focus group data to examine the levels of law student support for diversity in law school and sources of support for law students. Both white and minority students express strong support for diversity in the educational setting and suggest that diversity enhances their learning environment. Students suggest that lack of diversity at their law school may put them at a disadvantage. Seventy eight percent of students agreed that law school diversity will improve their future careers. Achieving a critical mass of underrepresented students is important to minority students because it creates a level of peer support
The Effects of Educational Diversity in a National Sample of Law Students: Fitting Multilevel Latent Variable Models in Data with Categorical Indicators
No full textControversy surrounding the use of race-conscious admissions can be partially resolved with improved empirical knowledge of the effects of racial diversity in educational settings. We use a national sample of law students nested in 64 law schools to test the complex and largely untested theory regarding the effects of educational diversity on student outcomes. Social scientists who study these outcomes frequently encounter both latent variables and nested data within a single analysis. Yet, until recently, an appropriate modeling technique has been computationally infeasible, and consequently few applied researchers have estimated appropriate models to test their theories, sometimes limiting the scope of their research question. Our results, based on disaggregated multilevel structural equation models, show that racial diversity is related to a reduction in prejudiced attitudes and increased perceived exposure to diverse ideas and that these effects are mediated by more frequent interpersonal contact with diverse peers. These findings provide support for the idea that administrative manipulation of educational diversity may lead to improved student outcomes. Admitting a racially/ethnically diverse student body provides an educational experience that encourages increased exposure to diverse ideas and belief systems
It Matters How and When You Ask: Self-Reported Race/Ethnicity of Incoming Law Students
No full textThe high-stakes nature of law school testing and admissions puts a premium on the student data presented to admissions committees, such as essays, academic and work history, and student background characteristics including race/ethnicity. 4,472 law school-bound students self-identified their race/ethnicity using (a) a mutually exclusive “choose one” format during registration for the law school admissions test, and (b) an elaborated “check-all-that-apply” format as part of a national survey administered during the first weeks at their chosen law school. Student multiraciality that was masked by the first assessment was associated with self-reported ethnic identity, discrimination experience, intergroup contact, race-related attitudes, academic performance, and trait ratings, as compared to monoracial majority students. A different profile of findings was observed across these constructs when multiracial students were compared to monoracial majority students, to monoracial minority students, and within group. These correlates also predicted the likelihood of changing identification across the two assessment contexts. These findings support the continued study of specific combinations of multiracial groups, fluidity of multiracial identities, and context effects that influence race/ethnicity self-categorizations
Few and Far Between: The Reality of Latina Lawyers
No full textThe historic appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the third woman and first Latina to serve on the nation’s highest court—and her story of overcoming tremendous obstacles—have resonated with many Latinas. But Latinas—who make up 7% of the total U.S. population and are part of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic and racial group in the United States—represent only 1.3% of the nation’s lawyers, the lowest representation of any racial or ethnic group as compared to their overall presence in the nation. Despite the focus on the underrepresentation of women and people of color in the legal profession, few studies have examined the experiences and issues unique to Latina attorneys, and none on a broad scale.
In response, the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), a national bar association committed to addressing the issues affecting Latinas/os in the legal profession, commissioned this National Study of the Status of Latinas in the Legal Profession, to understand the barriers and issues Latinas face as a result of their status as ethnically and racially diverse females, and how this intersection affects their experiences and career advancement. The overarching goal of this Study is to inform legal and business institutions about the unique issues and barriers Latina lawyers face in their legal careers, and how these may negatively affect their presence and advancement in the profession. Armed with this information, these institutions can develop strategies and take the necessary steps not only to remove the barriers that threaten their entry; but also to promote their presence and advancement in the legal profession.
This landmark Study is the first of its kind to provide both qualitative and quantitative data on the experiences and status of Latinas in the legal profession, on a national level and across all major legal sectors (including law firms, corporate counsel, government, the judiciary, and legal academia). The Study provides both a demographic and professional profile of more than 600 Latina attorneys and explores their experiences and how they have navigated their legal careers. This research is intended to help academic, legal, and business institutions better understand the issues and barriers that limit Latinas’ advancement within the legal profession and to develop strategies aimed at changing the status quo
Law School Transparency Data Dashboard
No full textLaw School Transparency created this tool to make it easier for legal education stakeholders, policymakers, journalists, and the public to understand the current state of legal education. It will, hopefully, lead to new insights that advance legal education. After all, the foundation of reform continues to be good ideas supported by data.
On most pages, you can modify the scope to see different comparisons related the page\u27s theme. On many of those pages, you can also adjust the years compared. Together or separate, these modifications show data from a different perspective